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Wonder Woman Movie Review

Over the weekend, I finally went to see the box office hit, Wonder Woman. Being a feminist, I really wanted to like this movie but alas I left the theater with a queasy stomach and it wasn’t because of the popcorn. Listed below are some of the issues that I had with the movie. SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen Wonder Woman yet some of my comments give away some of the story line.

After how many eons of invisibility to the world, how is it that the plane carrying the good-looking good guy, Steve Trevor, was able to penetrate the veil of the Amazon island, Themyscira? And subsequently, German ships too are able to penetrate the veil all in the matter of a few minutes.

If Diana had lived all of her life on the island of Themyscira where “Under penalty of death, no Man may set foot on Themyscira,” how is it that Diana recognized United States Army intelligence officer Steve Trevor as a man?

I understand the storytelling significance of the chemical that the Isabel Maru gives to General Erich Ludendorff but where did that come from? I mean she’s sitting in her lab working on a poison gas for the German army to use on its enemies and all of a sudden she says she has something special for the general. Why? There was no indication that the two had a relationship beyond commander and zeolous mad scientist. It just seemed to come out of the blue.

As Diana and Trevor walk through the streets of London, Diana stops to taste an ice cream. She savors the taste and then it’s over, never to be referred to again. What was the significance of that moment? I hate when directors throw in random one-time elements to make up for actually fleshing out a character. But I suppose since Wonder Woman was already over two hours long, the director was probably afraid of losing her audience before the big fight scenes started.

On the ship from Themyscira to London, Diana tells Trevor that she has been taught that men are necessary for reproduction but not needed for pleasure, yet in a room in London they seem to spend an intimate night together.

While I loved David Thewlis as Professor Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter series, I’m sorry but the image of his head CG’d onto a buffed up body of the god Ares was laughable (sorry David).

Why is it that battle garb for female superheros always leaves so much flesh exposed? Male superheros, superman, batman, spiderman, flash, ironman, are usually covered head to toe in their protective battle garment but not female superheros. Even the gods Thor and Loki are covered in chainmaille and metal. Why do directors feel that they have to have that titillating bit of female flesh showing to keep the men interested. How about a compelling story instead? I refuse to believe that men are nothing more than their baser instincts.

My biggest issues were these:

Why were there no men on the island of Themyscira? There are varying theories some saying the story of the all female culture was based on the legend of the Amazons. According to archeological findings, however, this myth is false. The underlying harm that I see here is that women are incapable of being strong in the presence of men rather than women being able to strong beside men.

There was point at which I almost left the theater early, it was toward the end when Ares has Diana trapped on the ground by a crushing piece of metal. She seems on the verge of giving up, then she sees the plane above, in which her new found love Trevor is flying the poisonous chemical, burst into flames and she explodes into fury along with it, and defeats Ares. Please, so a powerful woman who stands up to the German army can only come into her own because of the love of a man. This ruined the movie for me. All the positive imagery of athletic, powerful women just putrified into the usual female chorus of “we’re nothing without our man”. Puke.

The biggest disappointment about Wonder Woman to me is the fact that it was directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. I would imaging it is hard to get away from those stereotypes, especially in Hollywood. I’m not sure that Wonder Woman was a step in the right direction or just another superhero, action flick. What do you think?